From the Archives 1996 Doggone Larry La Trobe returns to Melbourne
First published in The Age on September 17, 1996
Doggone! Larry’s back
Melbourne’s version of Lassie Come Home unfolded yesterday in the City Square with the unveiling of a replica of the stolen sculpture Larry La Trobe.
Larry La Trobe returns to City Square in 1996.Credit:Ray Kennedy
The duplicate, cast in bronze from the original mould by Melbourne artist Ms Pamela Irving, has been anchored in place by 30-centimetre bolts.
After the unveiling, Ms Irving said that when she heard Larry had been stolen about a year ago she was initially amused because she thought it was a joke and he would be returned. “As the time went on I was pretty devastated,†Ms Irving said.
Unlike the other great Melbourne art heist, the Picasso theft, the artist has not heard anything about Larry’s fate. “I know a lot of people in art circles and I have not heard any whispers,†she said.
The mythological little mutt was loosely based on Ms Irving’s dog, Lucy, and her uncle, Larry.
“I have done a lot of mythological animals and I just thought to put a dog in the City Square was a good thing.
“It relates to all the stories about Australia, the poetry, the books and so on... The Drover’s Dog and The Dog on the Tucker Box. My work is a bit off-beat, whimsical, funky kind of stuff anyway.â€
Ms Irving has created other public sculptures including a bull for Melbourne University and a dog in a Caulfield park.
On hearing of the theft, Mr Peter Kolliner, who had owned the Artworks in Bronze foundry where Larry was first cast, offered to pay for a new casting.
Despite being secured with 30 cm bolts, the original Larry La Trobe was stolen overnight on August 30/31, 1995. The sculpture was never recovered and no one has been charged with its theft.
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